Random Stories

Last weekend we took a trip to the Big D. This was the first time for us to go by ourselves, just the 3 of us. We have always gone with another family and split the cost of the hotel room. This trip, though, it was just us and we treated ourselves to a fancy, shmancy hotel! It was in a fabulous location where we could just walk to the metro station and take it to the malls. And the bed was SO comfortable! Here in the M.E., we find that most hotel beds are hard as a rock! And I'm just not the firm mattress kind o' gal, so I really appreciate a comfy bed!

We went to this HUGE mall the first night and had delicious Macaroni Grill for dinner. Yum. It tastes just the same on this side of the ocean! I mean, American restaurants do, most of the time, taste the same, but I'm still surprised and delighted when something is particularly scrumptious....just like I remember it! Brad had his favorite Penne Rustica and I had my favorite, Mushroom Ravioli. Oh, and the bread. Yum! To top off the delicious food, the restaurant faces this massive aquarium that's in the center of this HUGE mall. So, we got to see all kinds of fishies and rays and other aquarium creatures. It was fantastic!

While making our way through the mall on the way to the Hershey store - again, Yum - we passed a restaurant whose menu I just had to see. It was called "Ribs and Rumps." HA! Of course, being from the South, this conjures up all sorts of memories of delicious smells and tastes of yummy pork... BUT, not surprisingly, the menu consisted of Ribs and Rumps of Beef and Chicken. Boo. I mean, talk about false advertising! (Just FYI, Mslms aren't allowed to eat Pork. Sometimes, when you sign a contract for an apartment, you have to say that you won't cook Pork in the kitchen. It's considered very unclean to them.) Oh, the joys of Pork that they're missing! :) (Another FYI, we can still get some Pork here in these special "Non-Mslm" areas of certain grocery stores in big cities, such as the Big D.)

Oh, I'm rambling about Pork...

I also found this great shoe place where they inspected my feet and fit me with some wonderful new inserts for my ridiculously flat feet. I've worn my sneakers and inserts every day since then! They are wonderful!

Another interesting thing that happened to us that would never happen in the US... We stayed in this fancy hotel. We booked it online and got an email confirmation and everything. On that confirmation, it stated that with our "weekend package" we would get complimentary "Continental or Arab breakfast in your room." Well, yes, I'll take that. So, Brad calls down to ask about breakfast timing and how we order and he's told that they don't do breakfast in the room, it's down in the restaurant. --No, I know this is not a huge deal, but bear with the story-- He goes down there with our email receipt that's still on the iPad screen, not printed out or altered in any way, and is told that the wording is incorrect on there and that we will have to, in fact, come down for breakfast.

Here's another one for you. Yesterday, Brad and I skipped our first class of the day to go to the Post Office to mail some packages to the US. There was a woman working the desk, so I was the one speaking. There were 2 other people there being waited on, a South Asian man and an Arab women who was completely covered with only her eyes showing. As I'm standing there, waiting for my packages to be weighed and stamped - with individual stamps! - this Arab lady is staring. Now I have vivid memories of my mother telling me over and over again that it was impolite to stare. Obviously, this Arab lady never got the same speech from her mother. She was probably 3 feet from me and probably had a crick in her neck when she left from staring at me! It was CRAZY!

But, I'm used to it, I reckon. Got stared at in Tanzania cause I was the only tall white girl around. Get stared at in our former, modern Arab city, and really, really get stared at here in our current, village-like town - but mostly by women in complete coverings!

Oh, the things that happen here that would never happen in the US. I love my life!

And just because no entry is complete without a precious picture of my baby girl... who's got her mischievous face on in this one.